1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to ultrasound image processing, and more particularly to an image processing system and a method of enhancing the quality of an ultrasound image.
2. Background of the Invention
An ultrasound diagnostic system has become an important and popular diagnostic tool since it has a wide range of applications. Specifically, due to its non-invasive and non-destructive nature, the ultrasound diagnostic system has been extensively used in the medical profession. Modern high-performance ultrasound diagnostic systems and techniques are commonly used to produce two or three-dimensional diagnostic images of internal features of an object (e.g., human organs).
The ultrasound diagnostic system generally uses a wide bandwidth transducer to transmit and receive ultrasound signals. The ultrasound diagnostic system forms images of human internal tissues by electrically exciting an acoustic transducer element or an array of acoustic transducer elements to generate ultrasound signals that travel into the body. The ultrasound signals produce ultrasound echo signals since they are reflected from body tissues, which appear as discontinuities to the propagating ultrasound signals. Various ultrasound echo signals return to the transducer element and are converted into electrical signals, which are amplified and processed to produce ultrasound data for an image of the tissues. The ultrasound diagnostic system is very important in the medical field since it provides physicians with real-time and high-resolution images of human internal features without the need for invasive observation techniques such as surgery.
In the ultrasound diagnostic system, an ultrasound image needs to be optimized to clearly show a desirable portion for accurate diagnosis. The ultrasound image can be optimized by adjusting the brightness and contrast of the ultrasound image with image parameters such as time gain compensation (TGC) parameter, gain parameter, reject parameter, dynamic range (DR) parameter and the like. A user needs to only slightly adjust the image parameters in order to obtain the desirable brightness and contrast of an ultrasound image in the conventional diagnostic system. However, since the slight adjustment of the image parameters is not conducted automatically but rather manually in the conventional ultrasound diagnostic system, an extensive amount of time is incurred to adjust the image parameters. Therefore, there is a problem in that the amount of time needed to complete diagnosis is extensively increased.